Rupel Believes Fate of Macedonia in its Hands
Slovenia supports Macedonia in its EU accession efforts but cannot guarantee that it would be given a date for launching accession talks with the EU during Slovenia's stint at the helm of the bloc, Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel said on Monday. Macedonia's fate is in its own hands, he stressed.
Rupel, speaking a day before a meeting of the EU-Macedonia Stabilisation and Association Council gets underway, added that "a lot depends on Macedonia as nobody can do its work," he said. All countries expect Macedonia to do what is required and the result will depend on the country's achievements, the minister added and pointed out that Macedonia is currently in a very sensitive phase of EU accession talks.
Rupel also believes that Macedonia's progress is also in the interest of Greece. He believes that Macedonia's southern neighbour will not put obstacles on Macedonia's EU accession path. Macedonia was given membership candidate status in December 2005. It needs to embark on a series of justice, policy anti-corruption and economic reforms before talks are launched on its EU entry.
Macedonia's Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski recently said that the country would push full steam ahead to meet the obligations from 1 January 2008, the date Slovenia also assumes its rotating EU presidency.
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